New Bubba Keg Grill, Review, still working things out

[Timber]

So I have been MIA, here but I jsut recently got a new grill thought some might be interested in hearing about. The Bubba Keg Grill, here is a review I posted on it in another forum anyone have one of these?

So I finally got her set up.. Here are a few things I noticed some queeps possibly.

On opening the box, and removing the plastic, I noticed my grill had a few marks here and there, While I do take pride in having a nice exterior appearance of my expensive toys, if this thing is anything like it is said to be I should have it around for years to get marks on it so I'm not to concerned about the few marks, but perhaps some people would be.

The one thing I could of done without was the adhesive holding on the display pictures to the trays, it took me longer to remove the adhesive then it did to put the whole keg together, again, I'm not to upset about it.(I was able to get rid of it with "de-solv-it" something like that. also I looked My keg is #775, I understand the earlier kegs had a wobble problem, mine has a slight wobble not sure if the wobble fixed by my model or not. Another thing I noticed is how "sticky" the vents on the bottom are, considering if I would do more harm then good to put some WD-40 on the tracks, as well the a lot of the sealant got on the metal, of the vent, again not much of a complaint here, but I could see someone being mad about it.

So.. my first step was to season it.. I was going to go the Crisco route, instead I found out we had 2lb worth of bacon grease laying around. So I seasoned the grate in the oven as well as the grate holding the fire bowl in place, 3 times, also gave grandmas old CI pan a good "baconin" also. Next day I gave the entire inside of the keg a bacon grease rub down and the top vent and started the fire.

I was using Cowboy Lump (also sold at Home depot) what is everyone's preference, I always liked Royal Oak, but since my dad got me the Lump and the Keg I felt inclined to use it. At my own fault, I have maybe done to much research on the keg, yes the keg holds heat amazingly efficiently, however I extremely underestimated how much lump I needed, I couldn't get the lump to light for a good hour or so, finally I said heck with it and put some more lump in there started another stick and let it burn with the lid open for about 8 minutes before closing, the keg started to climb much quicker then before. It took a good amount of time to get to 400 (easily 25-30 minutes) and then I started to choke the fires by putting it on #4 top and bottom. I continued to play with it and found it is very steady once you have it dialed in (it took quite a bit of tinkering and I still don't have it figured out, but I honestly don't expect to have it mastered yet. I used an ECB before so this was nothing compared to it. Then after the hour at 400 I let it open back up and took it to 600 then shut the vents for the night about an hour later it was still burning at about 300.

First firing up verdict, I am impressed, but I feel the problems are more a direct result of operator error, I should of used more coal, I suspect with the proper amount of fuel controlling the fire comes easier. A thought I had was to start my lump in a chimney (all of it) then putting in the bowl, would this be a good idea, or do you all recommend a minion type starting, or is it best to just keep practicing the starter stick, those with a komodo what do you do?


First Dinner, Again, I underestimated the amount of lump to use, it took almost exactly 30 minutes with the vents wide open to get it up to 500. I made Lamb chops and Eggplant. Here is where I have some worries.. Again this may be me not using enough lump, but every time I opened the lid (total of 3 times during cook 1 to place food on, 1 to flip, 1 to take off) but I timed it and the first time I opened the lid it had just reached 500, had the lid open less than a minute, and it had dropped to 350 by the time I was done, and I flipped at 5 minutes in, and it had just reached 400 again by that time, and then the second round It took 10 minutes and it had just barely reached 400 again, I took the food off then. Im not stranger to the idea of recovery times and such, but typically with charcoal I am not used to it taking such a long time, would this have been fixed by using more lump? Anyway the meal turned out good, however the lamb was very undercooked in some parts, a result of my troubles with the temperature, how long does the BGE take to usually recover?

So my thoughts so far, I am pleased with the design and am looking forward to learning the ins and outs of this cooking vessel I expected a learning curve when I got it.

Suggestions...
Diffuser plate, I don't know if the owners of a Bubba grill are to refer to the BGE as "grill that shall not be named" but I for one do like the accessories available for it, and read a review were the guy used a plate setter for their L size that worked perfectly, I assume that the diffuser Bubba releases will be something close, I can not wait.

Foil drip pans, I have put a little strip of foil on the bottom to catch drippings, one thing I didn't like is if you look inside the vent area, if grease pools or runs to the edge it could get into the insulation and perhaps overtime become quite nasty, Im going to use mine for a long time so this might be a concern down the road, for now I have folded up some paper towel and stuffed in there. In the picture here you see the white on top it is also like this on the bottom I am assuming this is the insulation, note the foil is what i put in there.

Removable trays, I love them, but it would be cool if we could also click them in a down position if I don't need the tray I don't know where to put it.

Cover, a cover would be nice.

Temp Gauge, I was looking at it and it would have been cool to incorporate the design so it perfectly cuts the 50's to 100's in half so you could estimate the 25 degrees

Im open to ideas and suggestions anyone has. if you were reading this with the intent to buy, I have nothing negative to say about the grill, and any problems I have had so far are my own user error, and so far I am happy customer... To prove how happy I am with my keg, I had to endure a sad moment last night..

More to come

Ill update as i come across more!

 

[AnonyBrew]

Looks like a nice alternative to the BGE. Now I want one. Their website says they sell for $599.

 

[Timber]

Bubba Keg Beer Can Chicken 06.03.09

Tonight I made BCC, this was the first thing I made entering the BBQ world. My problems with getting the temps up at a decent time have been squashed, as well I no longer take 30 minutes to recover form opening the grill. I was correct in my assumption that I was being too conservative on the amount of lump I was using. I used much more, and this time I was able to recover temps much quicker (within about 10 minutes) it took about 30 minutes a bit less to get it up to 350 to cook it. To get it back to temp, I just reopened all the vents wide open and then cut them down to 1.5 top and bottom at about 325 (estimated) and it coasted ot 350 and stuck around that area until I opened it again. Chickens took roughly 1.25 hours a little bit longer. I used a roasting pan and was extremely happy how it fit in there so I didn't have to worry about grease. You can see somewhat how much headroom there is in there, cooking a BCTurkey will be easy. The taste.. perfection so good and moist, honestly the best I have ever made. I know the cooker had nothing to do with this but this is the first time I seemed to be able to keep the seasoning on the chicken.it usually falls off.

One worry, the chicken was pulled as it started going past 160 so it was def 160 in the thigh (as well as the clear juices),but parts near the bone appears uncooked, we will see if I got sick .

And pics! Corn grilled 6 minutes per side at 400 degrees

 

[remilard]

Looks good.

I would say my BGE temperature recovery experience is still a little better. I could probably make some hand wavy argument about the ceramic having a higher thermal mass than the oven insulation, but it is probably just that I have more experience with that type of cooker or even something like the BGE dome thermometer being in a slightly different place that heats back up quicker.

I've read reviews of this thing from people who have used a BGE and they tend to conclude that they are comparable.

I think the Bubba Keg pros are lower cost and that awesome trailer hitch thing you can get for it. The cons are less accessories (tons of BGE and third party stuff for the BGE) and I guess it hasn't been tested for durability like the BGE.

The Bubba Keg seems like a no brainer for someone who was considering one of the other ceramic cookers, since they all of the fewer accessories than the BGE problem.

 

[Timber]

I would say they are likely comparable on many fronts with both having pros and cons.

the Trailer hitch you mention isnt a accessory you need to buy, it comes with it. And the circumference of the grill is that of the L BGE so therefore many of the accessories will fit in it that are designed for the BGE. Im sure if we give it some time some people will fashion stuff for it, the thing hasn't been around long I got mine on memorial day and mine was the #775's unit made.

Durability time will tell, but it would be nice to do a side by side. And you are correct also you likely have much more experience with it as you see, my previous grill was a ECB ($28 smoke n grill at wal-mart). Its definitely likely that this will be around a while.

 

[AnonyBrew]

You still using this thing Timber? Let's have an update on it.